[68.1] The Sacrifices of a Mother

Sitting on my lap as I cut off his knotted locks of hair, Asmonious played with the ice dragon that was wrapping around his wrists.

I chuckled at his interest in the ice dragon, "Do you like it?"

He nodded with a smile.

I hummed a song as I continued to cut, "You should name it if you like it that much."

"..."

He continued to play with it, completely absorbed by its unique behavior.

I was used to his lack of speaking and spoke, "Maybe I should have you give me a name too… Since I can't seem to say my own."

"..."

"I wonder why I can't say my name." I let out a sigh, "Maybe it's a curse."

"-Not a curse."

I froze at the sound of his voice, "What was that?"

He looked up at me with his orange eyes, "I can see curses. You're not cursed."

"O-Oh…" I thought for a moment before squeezing his cheeks, "You're such a smart child."

His cheeks blushed as he let me pull on them. 

I returned back to cutting off his hair when I noticed something strange hidden in his scalp. I narrowed my eyes, "What is that?... It looks like… A hole-"

He jerked his head away from me, covering the two holes in his head with a submissive, fearful look. He murmured, "Those spots are sensitive…"

"Ah… Okay, sorry. I will be careful not to touch it."

He cast me one more distrustful look before slowly lowering his hands. Seeing him give me the approval, I finished cutting off the knots of his hair being extra careful not to touch the spots he was so sensitive about.

I patted the hair off his clothes, "There. All done. Does it feel better?"

He tilted his head back and forth to feel its weight before nodding.

Ahh! How cute!

As I pinched his cheeks, I noticed the poor shape his clothes were in. I pursed my lips, "We really need to find a town… We both need a change of clothes."

He gave a yawn and leaned back against me. Once he realized he was falling asleep on me, he panicked to sit back up.

I chuckled at his reserved nature and poked his soft cheek, "Sleepy?"

"No!" He shouted quickly, "Not sleepy!"

I was surprised by his sudden shout, "O-Oh?"

He lowered his eyes quickly and stopped playing with the dragon, "S-Sorry…"

"There's no need to be sorry…" I drummed my fingers on the ground as I thought, "So then… What would you like to do?"

He raised his eyes and blinked at me in confusion, "Um… I don't know."

"Well if you're not tired, is there a game you'd like to play?"

He shrugged, "I don't know of any games."

What do children like to do?

I've never babysat children before.

…Unless you count Cyrus when we were children.

But was he even a child? He was like a miniature adult when I met him.

What did I play as a child?

I smiled at him, "How about Mugunghwa Flower has bloomed?"

"What's that?"

"While I sing that phrase you run towards me. When I turn around, you have to freeze or else you lose. Do you want to try it?"

"...Okay."

I placed him down then ran a far enough distance, "Okay! Are you ready?"

He nodded.

I turned around and started singing, "Mungunhwa-"

*tap tap*

Feeling a feeble hand tap on my leg, I turned around in surprise. Asmonious was already next to me, staring up at me with his beautiful orange eyes.

My mouth dropped, "T-That fast?!"

He tilted his head, "Did I win?"

The corners of my lips twitched, "Y-You sure did."

Is it because he is a demon that makes him so remarkably fast?

But I don't remember Zephyr being THAT fast!

Although he's not really a good example since he's so lazy…

Well, let's just stick to something that doesn't require athleticism.

"How about rock, paper, scissors? Have you heard of that?"

He shook his head.

"It's really easy! You make your hand look like this for rock, this for paper, and this for scissors. Rock beats scissors, scissors beats paper, and paper beats rock. On three, we both throw out one and see who wins. Ready? Rock-"

As soon as I threw my hand out for rock, Asmonious jumped back in fear, falling onto the ground. He stared at my hand which was shaped like a fist, trembling in distress. 

I immediately realized the fault in my action and held out my hands with open palms, "Oh! No! I'm not going to hurt you!"

He still stared at my hands, looking as if he would faint.

I panicked and created another ice dragon, using it to play with him until he was finally able to calm down.

I let out a sigh of relief once I realized he calmed down, "What about… Hide 'n seek?"

He timidly looked up at me, "I don't know what that is either."

"One person hides while another tries to find them."

His expression paled as fear arose in his eyes, "I know that game. Father always played it with me and he always found me."

I suddenly reminded myself of how I found him and immediately regretted my words.

Oh no…

Are you telling me…

I am in charge of a child who was traumatized so badly that they don't even know how to be a child!?

I cried out while holding my cheeks, "What am I going to do!? I don't know how to entertain children!!!" 

If I could just stick him in front of a TV screen, that would solve everything!!!

He lowered his head submissively, "I'm sorry…"

"No, no! There's no need to be sorry!" I let out a sigh, "I should be the one who is sorry… I'm not very good with children."

He let out another large yawn, blinking his eyes slowly.

I stared at him for a moment, "Are you sure you're not tired? You've had a long day-"

"I-I'm not tired!" He said quickly, but I watched as his head started to bob up and down.

Is there a reason he doesn't want to sleep?

"Hmmm." I picked him up and walked with him to the mountain's edge. I motioned to the sunset, "Isn't it beautiful? I think it would make a nice painting."

"Painting? What's a painting?"

My eyes widened, "You don't know?"

He shook his head.

"Ah. Well, painting is something you can do with oil, acrylics, or watercolors. Acrylics are perfect for beginners. First, you decide what you would like to paint and then you can either start with a sketch or go straight to the paint… Personally, I always start with a sketch. Then, I move on to applying the base coat. Now, there are different techniques of painting with brushes depending on what mood you are going for or what you even have available to you-"

I felt even breathing and glanced down to see he had fallen asleep in my arms as I droned on about painting.

I smiled at his sleeping face and squished his cheek, "Maybe we should go around the mountain tomorrow and see if there is anything we can use to paint."

I returned back to the cave, tucking him into the makeshift bed. Staring down at him in the pitiful excuse for a bed, I let out a sigh.

I really need to find a town. I can't allow a child to live like this. 

As I silently criticized myself for forcing a child to be in such poor conditions, I heard whimpering beside me. I turned to face the child who was trembling in his sleep, whimpering as if in pain. Tears beaded at his eyelashes, making him appear so pitiful.

I quickly rushed to his side and rubbed his forehead with my thumb. As I hushed him comfortingly, I put some mana behind my thumb to soothe him.

"Shh… It's okay… I'm right here…"

Feeling the cooling mana from my thumb, his whimpers died down and his expression returned back to his peaceful slumber.

I laid down beside him with a sigh. Once I started drifting off to sleep, I heard his whimpers start again. I used my magic to lull him back to sleep, then tried to sleep myself. However, I would be woken up again by his whimpers.

Throughout the night, the cycle continued.

Once I saw light coming into the cave, I let out an exhausted groan.

"Now I know how my Mummy felt all those years ago…"